No one moves like this….. except Jackie Chan
The Legend of Drunken Master should be titled, “Look ma! No wires!” because honestly it will blow your mind how the action sequences are choreographed without wires. Before we get to the action, let’s talk about the story.
Wong Fei-Hung is a disobedient son (as every son generally is). He doesn’t think too clearly about things, he has two pockets full of immaturity and he is constantly disappointing his father. When one disappointment becomes too many, Fei-Hung finds himself out of his father’s home and on his own. What Fei-Hung also finds is that the British government is secretly sneaking out Chinese artifacts from the country to sale and profit off of. Fei-Hung must use his ‘Drunken’ skills to not only stop the Brits from taking what is rightfully China’s, but he must find a way back into his father’s good graces.
Jackie Chan owns the role of Wong Fei-Hung. He plays a very human, very young and immature warrior, who is simply learning his way through life the hard way. Chan does makes a superb effort with bringing Fei-Hung from a two-dimensional character to a three-dimensional meaningful character. For a movie that is almost always remembered first for the incredible action this is nothing short of miraculous. Chan also has some fabulous help from his support characters, such as his character’s father (played by Lung Ti), who establishes himself as the authority figure in Fei-Hung’s life. Also supporting Chan, at least on the comedic side, is the late Anite Mui who plays Fei-Hung’s mother. Each of these characters help to shape Wong and send him out to finish the story.
Speaking of the story….
Outside of the strong characters that the film creates, the story is a bit lackluster. It does have the typical ‘evil’ element and the need to preserve the heritage of one’s country, but that has been done before. There’s simply nothing new to the story, rather the entire movie is completely character and action driven. Without the characters the story collapses like wet broccoli on a screaming child’s plate. In other words, please don’t mind the lame-ass storyline; that’s not the beef of the film.
The beef of the film is the action. Some might argue that this is Jackie Chan’s pinnacle of choreographed work; I would have to agree. Chan does some breathtaking martial arts in this film and does so without the help of wires. When you see him leaning, moving, standing awkwardly in the film he’s really doing that. The fight at the end is worth the price of admission for this film. Seeing him in action in The Legend of Drunken Master is just mind blowing. This paragraph is the reason why you want this film.
The secondary reason you want this film
The second reason to purchase this may not be as convincing; well, half-not-as-convincing (I know, that doesn’t make sense). The visuals on a 1080p screen are top-notch. Miramax did a fantastic job on the clean-up and transfer of this film to HD. Now, the downside to the lovely visuals is the awful audio. While I’m not saying the English part of this film isn’t tolerable, it would have been more than fantastic to hear the film in its original Chinese track. Regretfully, the Chinese track isn’t an option.
While the quantity doesn’t help out, you do get one single feature with a lovely interview with the great Jackie Chan. If you don’t love Chan by now you’re not human.